[jcwmama]

Looking for advise on a considering a homebirth at home 45 minutes from nearest hospital. Would like to hear from others who had homebirths a good distance from hospital. There is no birth center option in our area. This will be our second baby. First baby born in hospital with epidural after 44 hours of natural labor, vaginal birth. Thanks!

 

[Peony]

I was that same distance with my 2nd birth, first HB. I wasn't worried, and everything went smoothly.

 

[jenfl]

If you're worried about true emergency (as opposed to transfer for exhaustion or other non-urgent reasons), you might want to look into how far away the local ambulance post is. We're about 15-20 minutes from the hospital, but the ambulance post and fire station are right down the street. That's a reassurance.

 

[wholisticmidwife]

being that you have gotten a baby out Ithink its really fine. It needs to be where you feel the most comfortable AND safe. Only you can answer that.

 

[Maggi315]

90% of the births I attend are more than 45 minutes from a hospital, and it has never been a problem. Even when we had a cord prolapse. So I am not personally worried about it, it's the only option for most people. However, I know people who haven't had one because of the distance. In all my years of trying to find out more about birth centers, that would be one of the major stumbling blocks around here, it would have to be very close to the hospital, and when they tried that about 20 years ago, the doctors had it shut down pretty quickly.

I live in a rural area though and everyone is used to having to drive for EVERYTHING. In their minds, if their is an emergency it's no different then if there is an emergency at the farm, or shop, or whatever, or even a car accident, they would have to be driven or airlifted quite a distance. That's just a price that is paid for living in a rural area.

 

[paquerette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maggi315 I live in a rural area though and everyone is used to having to drive for EVERYTHING. In their minds, if their is an emergency it's no different then if there is an emergency at the farm, or shop, or whatever, or even a car accident, they would have to be driven or airlifted quite a distance. That's just a price that is paid for living in a rural area.

:

I had my homebirth ~45 minutes from a hospital... and that's not even much of a hospital, have to go about 1.5 hours for a good one. But it's also ~45 minutes from the grocery store, which impacts my life far more!

 

[rachel65655]

We live 45 minutes from the nearest hospital and about an hour and 15 minutes from the hospital of our choice. If we have issues with the twins before I am 36 wks, we will just go to the hospital that is further because we would end up getting transferred there anyway. Otherwise, we will have our homebirth as planned. The nearest ambulance is 15 minutes away and we would probably have to meet them at the station anyway just to save the time of them trying to "find" us. We live very rural, unpaved county roads, etc...We do have a years membership in Air Evac if it came down to a serious emergency, we could be air lifted and it wouldn't cost us a dime.

 

[Epona]

Three hours out from the hospital. But just ten minutes from a medi-chopper. It's not my first choice. I didn't feel like the most responsible mother in the world when we did it, but all things looked really optimum. We even had an ultrasound, just to make sure that her chances for heart/lung/etc. issues were very unlikely. And of course made sure that we chose a midwife who had experience with emergencies, and maternal and infant resuscitation. Also, my husband was completely prepared for how to handle hemmorahge (oh, dear I can't even spell it

and etc. And of course, the grandparents were present so the other kids would be completely taken care of in any emergency. And in the end, it was all fantastic. But I hope this next baby won't be so far away. It was stressful. Because we've had some excellent hospital births, I'm actually not as adverse to them as many mothers here. Dh is though.

He hates having his wife and children/babies in them.

 

[adinanikki]

I'm considering the same situation. I wouldn't hesitate if I hadn't had problems in the past and still struggle with guilt issues for things that I know I had no control over. It's a choice you have to make for yourself. A friend just had a wonderful homebirth 1.5 hrs from the hospital. I would love to homebirth also but my only hangup is the distance, and the fact that I know if (in the unlikely event that) anything went wrong I would forever blame myself. I guess you just need to weigh your options and follow your heart.

 

[Natalie's Mama]

I'm at least an hour from the hospital. IF I catch the ferry right on time. Most women here plan on 1 1/2 - 2 hours to get there. However there is an ambulance less than 5 minutes from here and they can if needed take you to a helicopter into town or drive you in about 45 minutes.

 

[Maggi315]

I think most people in america are used to being so close to a hospital, they forget there is a large population in america that are not close! Or not easily accessible. And of course, most of the third world and remote countries are not even near medical care....it's such a personal decision here in america where to live and people who are rural understand that medical care can be a long way to get too. I personally don't want to be so isolated, we have way too many medical problems, but many of my clients are very happy to be rural...I often feel jealous because they seem to have such a peaceful lifestyle as opposed to my hurried lifestyle (of course being a midwife does not help that at all)